The City of London, nicknamed the Square Mile, is a city, ceremonial county and local government district at the historic heart of the capital. The Romans founded it as Londinium around 47 AD. Wikipedia gives its area as 1.12 square miles, which makes it the smallest city in the United Kingdom, with 8,583 residents at the 2021 census but over 500,000 people employed there as of 2019. The Bank of England, the London Stock Exchange and Lloyd's of London all sit inside its boundary.
We are a broker, never a lender. We arrange business mortgages for limited companies that want to buy or refinance the premises they trade from within the City, whether that is a floor of offices near Moorgate, a restaurant off Bishopsgate or a shop on Cheapside. Because the security is a City business's own workplace, this is commercial lending, not a residential mortgage. We read your accounts, look at the property and then approach the lenders whose criteria fit the deal.
Which City firms use an owner-occupier mortgage for their offices?
The household names here rarely need a broker. Aviva, BT Group, Prudential, Schroders and Unilever keep headquarters in the City, and Magic Circle law firms such as Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are based here too. Our clients are the smaller businesses that work around them: niche law practices drawn to the western edge near the Inns of Court, accountants, insurance brokers close to the Lloyd's market, recruitment and consultancy firms, and independent restaurants and bars.
For a professional firm with steady fee income, owning a floor or a small building can turn rent into an asset on the balance sheet. Lenders look at the partners' or directors' track record and at the practice's accounts as closely as at the building. Our page on professional practice mortgages explains how that assessment works.
Banks, law firms and brokers: who occupies the City
ONS UK Business Counts 2026, local units.
Show as a table
| Sector | Businesses | City of London share | UK share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional, scientific and technical | 8,505 | 31% | 13.9% |
| Finance and insurance | 4,335 | 15.8% | 2.1% |
| Business support services | 3,480 | 12.7% | 8.1% |
| Information and communication | 2,905 | 10.6% | 6.2% |
| Property | 1,440 | 5.2% | 4.4% |
| Restaurants, cafes and pubs | 1,060 | 3.9% | 6.3% |
| Construction and building trades | 935 | 3.4% | 12.6% |
| Retail | 820 | 3% | 9.4% |
| Wholesale | 715 | 2.6% | 3.7% |
- 8.3xbanking and financial services2,145 businesses
- 7.9xenergy supply530 businesses
- 7.3xinsurance and pensions355 businesses
- 6.8xlegal and accounting4,730 businesses
A figure of 2.0x means the trade makes up twice the share of local businesses that it does across the UK.
The City's 27,425 business units are dominated by finance and the professions. Finance and insurance makes up 15.8% of firms, 7.36 times the UK share, and legal and accounting practices run at 6.85 times. Professional, scientific and technical businesses account for 31% of the total. Large employers are unusually common, with 490 firms of 250 staff or more.
For a law firm or broker buying its own floor, the purchase is often a long leasehold rather than a freehold. Lenders will look at the unexpired term as well as the firm's fee income before committing.
Can a commercial property loan cover a long leasehold floor in The City?
Often, yes. Much of the space a smaller firm can afford in the Square Mile is sold as a long leasehold suite rather than a freehold building. Lenders active in owner-occupier lending will take a charge over a long lease, but they read it closely: the unexpired term, the ground rent, the service charge and any restriction on selling or subletting all affect how much they will advance.
The mix of uses is changing. Wikipedia notes that the trend for purely office development is beginning to reverse as the Corporation encourages residential use, and that it is now Corporation policy to encourage retailing in places such as Cheapside near St Paul's. A building with flats above a shop or bar is semi-commercial, which lenders price at an indicative 6.5 to 8.5% a year, subject to status, accounts and valuation. Our guide to semi-commercial premises covers how they are treated.
City of London: more offices, far fewer shops and other premises
Valuation Office Agency, non-domestic rating stock of properties, March 2026. Average rateable value is the VOA's estimate of annual rent, not a sale price.
- Industrial and warehouse1,480properties on the rating listDown 18.7% since 2016Average rateable value £6,300factories, workshops, warehouses and trade units
- Offices11,820properties on the rating listUp 8.2% since 2016Average rateable value £193,500offices, including converted buildings
- Shops and retail1,060properties on the rating listDown 16.5% since 2016Average rateable value £89,300shops, showrooms and retail warehouses
- Other commercial2,740properties on the rating listDown 24.9% since 2016Average rateable value £66,000pubs, hotels, surgeries, nurseries, garages and more
Small business centres and units serving City firms
Named estates and parks listed on Google Maps near City of London, October 2026. Listed to show where premises trade locally; we have no connection with the owners or agents.
- Heliport Industrial EstateLondon EC4M 9BJ
- Huntingdon Industrial EstateLondon E1 6LA
- Micro Business ParkLondon E1 5NP
- Tower Bridge Business CentreLondon E1W 1AW
- Castle Industrial EstateElephant and Castle, London SE17 1LA
- B Industrial EstateLondon
- Dockley Road Industrial EstateLondon SE16 3SL
- Discovery Business ParkLondon SE16 4RA
- Apollo Business ParkLondon SE16 4ET
- The Highway Business ParkLondon E1 9HR
- Roman Way Industrial EstateLondon N7 8XH
- Highway Business ParkLondon E1 9HR
Office entries in the City rose 8.2% to 11,820, with an average rateable value of £193,500. Every other category shrank: shops fell 16.5% to 1,060, industrial units 18.7% and the other category, including pubs and leisure, 24.9%. Total premises are down 3.2%. For an owner-occupier, the City is an office market almost entirely, and loans are sized accordingly.
What cash does buying business premises in the City of London, England need?
Indicative owner-occupier pricing runs at 6.0 to 7.5% a year, typically at 70 to 75% loan to value and up to 80% for strong cases, over terms of 5 to 25 years, all subject to status, accounts and valuation. Arrangement fees are usually 1 to 2% of the loan. Pubs, bars and restaurants are assessed as trading businesses, where the indicative range is 7.0 to 9.0%.
The City is in England, so SDLT applies at non-residential rates: 0% up to £150,000, 2% from £150,001 to £250,000 and 5% above £250,000 (HMRC, rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).
Illustrative example. A firm of solicitors buys a long leasehold office suite for £1,500,000. A 75% loan is £1,125,000, so the deposit is £375,000. SDLT on that price is £64,500, taking the cash needed to roughly £439,500 before legal and valuation fees. The commercial stamp duty guide shows the arithmetic band by band.
Who checks planning and title for premises finance in the Square Mile's local authority?
The City is governed by the City of London Corporation, led by the Lord Mayor of London, which acts as the planning authority instead of a borough council. Wikipedia records that the Corporation came to realise its planning policies may have been pushing financial firms towards Canary Wharf. For a buyer, the practical point is that the lender's solicitor will check the lawful use of the suite or building against the Corporation's records before funds are released.
Security is a first legal charge registered at HM Land Registry, usually backed by a debenture or a director's guarantee. Commercial lending to a limited company is unregulated and falls outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter. Where a deal would be regulated, for example lending to a sole trader or individual, or a property where the borrower or a close family member will live in part of it, we refer it to an appropriately authorised firm. Our London business mortgages page covers the wider capital.
Business districts across the City of London
Bank and Cornhill
The financial core around the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and Mansion House sits on Cornhill, one of the City's two historic hills. Buildings here are dominated by large institutions, so the owner-occupiers we hear from tend to be smaller advisory firms buying a single floor or a small period building in the side streets.
Moorgate and Broadgate
The Broadgate estate and the offices along Moorgate are close to Liverpool Street, where the Elizabeth line now links the City to Canary Wharf, Heathrow and the M4 corridor towards Reading. That connection matters to firms whose staff and clients travel in from the west, and it supports demand for office suites in this northern part of the Square Mile.
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate mixes tall office buildings with the bars and restaurants of the City's night-time economy, which Wikipedia places in this area towards Shoreditch. Hospitality operators buying a freehold or long lease here are assessed on their trading accounts as well as the bricks and mortar, because the business itself drives the value.
Cheapside and St Paul's
Retail drifted to the West End over the years, but the Corporation now encourages shops around Cheapside near St Paul's Cathedral. Retailers and food businesses buying units here benefit from heavy weekday footfall from office workers, and a lender will want to see that the trading figures reflect that pattern across the week.
Smithfield and Farringdon
Smithfield, wholly within the City, remains the only market left in central London and the country's largest meat market. Food wholesalers, butchers and catering suppliers cluster around it, and Farringdon station on the Elizabeth line and Thameslink sits just beyond the boundary. Premises here range from market-linked trade units to converted warehouses used as offices.
Leadenhall Market
In the east of the City, Leadenhall Market is a fresh food market that doubles as a visitor attraction, lined with shops, pubs and restaurants under its Victorian roof. Independent food and drink operators trading here are typically leaseholders, and finance tends to focus on buying an interest in the unit they already run.
Chancery Lane and the western edge
The boundary runs north up Chancery Lane, where the City borders Camden, and the Inns of Court on this western side have made the area a centre for the legal profession. Barristers' chambers, law firms and legal support businesses buying their own offices here make up much of the owner-occupier activity in the west of the City.
